Hungarian Shortbread

Buttery, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookies are another one of my favorites. I tend to have a lot of favorite cookies if you haven't noticed but there's something about the simplicity of shortbread that I especially like. Other types of cookies rely on "stuff" to make them good such as chips, extracts, nuts, or glazes. Shortbread can stand on its own.

I've been making this Hungarian Shortbread recipe for a few years now and it's fairly simple, and makes a delicious cookie with or without the raspberry jam filling. A couple of weeks ago I made a batch of homemade raspberry jam from local raspberries I picked myself (well, with Mike's help) near our upstate home. While I was picking, I came upon a praying mantis among the raspberry bushes and snapped a picture of him with my IPhone. Just as I was about to take the photo, it turned its head and looked directly at me as if to say, "May I help you?"














The recipe requires freezing the dough for at least 30 minutes to 3 hours and then grating the frozen dough on a box grater. This helps the shortbread to have a light, crumbly texture. I bet it would be fun for kids to make (with proper supervision of course).

My oven is on the fritz so the top didn't brown as much as I would have liked. I've called Bill the repairman and he's scheduled for next week.

This recipe is based on one in Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Special equipment needed: box grater and 10" springform pan
Any grater with large holes will do if you don't have a box grater. You may also use a 9" x 9" square baking pan, lined with foil and lightly greased with butter.


Hungarian Shortbread

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup raspberry jam

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter in a large bowl with a mixer on high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Turn mixer to medium and add sugar and egg yolks; mix until sugar is dissolved and mixture is light, about 4 minutes. With mixer on low speed, slowly add flour mixture and mix until dough just begins to come together, about 1 minute.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and bring it together with your hands into one lump. Divide the dough in half and form two balls. Wrap each in plastic and freeze at least 30 minutes or up to 3 hours.

Arrange an oven rack in the center of oven. Heat to 350 degrees. Grease a 10" springform pan with butter. Remove a ball of dough from the freezer, unwrap, and grate, using the large holes of a box grater, directly into prepared pan. Gently pat the grated dough to even it out. Spread jam evenly over the dough, leaving about a 1/2" border around the edge. Grate remaining dough on top of jam and pat gently until the surface is even. Bake until light golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan, on a rack, before cutting into wedges and serving.

Cookie press rating: 3.75 cookies (out of 5)

Grated Dough (looks like cheese!)













Spreading the Jam